


'I'll be the failure of your conscience.'

by 51PegasiB



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Aftercare, BDSM, Established Relationship, Gags, Kink Negotiation, Nipple Clamps, Porn with Feelings, Smut, Spanking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-05
Updated: 2013-05-05
Packaged: 2017-12-10 10:55:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/785266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/51PegasiB/pseuds/51PegasiB
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve comes to Bruce and Tony with a request that they are delighted to fulfill.</p>
            </blockquote>





	'I'll be the failure of your conscience.'

**Author's Note:**

> This story contains consensual BDSM.

Steve squirmed under the full attention of the scientists. It wasn't that they ever ignored him, precisely, but he was present, sometimes, when they were working. He was used to being in the margins watching them while they moved around each other in a flawless choreography of intertwined motion and words. To be subject to the same laser focus as their data and their arcane machines was giving Steve pause, even though he had been working himself up this for a while. 

He wasn’t even sure where to start. He could feel the flush creeping up his neck and over his cheeks. Even though he had demanded their attention, it was difficult to speak, especially about something he’d been holding in for a long time. They were both on the huge bed that Steve suspected had been a custom job. Bruce was sitting on the foot of the bed. Tony was sprawled backwards, hand behind his head. 

Tony's decorating tastes had always seemed, well...stark. The room was like all the rooms in the tower - clean lines, neutral colors and nearly empty. The bed, a bedside table with absolutely nothing on it on either side...a couple of chairs. This is why Steve still had his own bedroom, even if he hadn't slept in it much since the three of them had negotiated their arrangement. The only thing that was homey about this room was the two men he was usually sharing the bed with when he stayed there.

“Well, what is it you want out of us? You know we’ll do it. If only to see you blush more,” said Tony.

Bruce shushed him and turned to Steve with open attention. “Take all the time you need.” His voice was low and had a touch of roughness or softness about it. Everything about Tony was smooth and sharp - he was all angles. Bruce was different. Bruce begged to enfold and to be enfolded.

“I was kind of hoping you guys could…well…tie me up.”

“Is that all? We could have been doing that for ages. That’s barely even kinky, these days, Cap. I mean, from the way you were looking, I was expecting something much more…” Tony’s voice cut off when Bruce shushed him again.

“Is that something you’ve done before? Had done to you before?” asked Bruce.

“No.” Steve was addressing Bruce directly, now. It seemed easier. He felt a little like Tony was dismissing him. Laughing at him. He knew Bruce and Tony had done lots of things together before he had gotten up the guts to tell them how he felt. Sometimes he wondered what they got up to when he was away.

“What do you want to have happen once you’ve been tied up?”

Steve swallowed. He had some ideas about this, but he wasn’t sure he was feeling up to talking through what had, up to a minute ago, felt like his darkest, most private fantasies. He wasn’t even sure he could catalog and quantify all his longings. “I’m not sure,” he said.

He could feel Tony leering at him off of Bruce’s left shoulder. “Oh, don’t you worry about that, Steve. There are plenty of things. Oh so many things and I’ll just make a list and we’ll go through whatever we have in the room reverse alphabetically. That way we can start with wax which is one of my…” Tony was cut off, again. This time by Bruce breaking in and speaking over whatever he’d just been about to say.

“Tony, get me my bag.”

“Oh, are we really going to do this now? I mean he asked and he doesn’t and…this is supposed to be fun and…”

Bruce was sitting up straighter than usual. Something in his demeanor had changed. Steve had never seen him act this way before. It was subtle, but obvious to anyone who had seen the responsibility of command at work. Bruce had gone from being Tony’s equal to being in charge with a slight elongation of his spine and a shift of his vocal quality.

Steve raised his eyebrows. This was not how he expected it to fall out. He knew Tony recognized the air of command settling over Bruce too, because the man went to a closet and came back with a black leather bag that looked like the kinds doctors carried in movies about Victorian England.

Bruce opened it and took something out. Tony sat on one of the chairs. His eyes were glued to Bruce until the man moved behind him and put something into Tony’s mouth. It was like a big rubber ball with straps coming out from either side. The ball filled up Tony’s mouth and completely prevented him from speaking. Bruce did something to fasten it at the back of the head. “If you’re good, you can keep your hands and help me do what I’m going to do to Steve. If you’re not good, I’m going to handcuff you to that chair. Do you understand, Tony?”

Steve shivered. Bruce wasn’t raising his voice or anything, but something about his tone was sending lightning down Steve's spine. It must have been doing the same to Tony, because he was still staring, eyes wide and he just nodded and stayed seated, but Steve could see the bulge in his pants.

Bruce smiled and leaned in to kiss Tony’s neck. The man gave a muffled moan and gripped the sides of the chair with both hands.

Apparently the gag came with rules about touching. Steve shuddered.

Bruce turned back to Steve and looked at him with the same quiet focus as before. “Now. Tony won’t interrupt you again. If you’re not sure what you want, that’s okay. We can try some things, but let me check in with you on some broad categories, okay?”

Steve kept eyes on Bruce and nodded.

“You tell me yes or no if you’re interested and we’ll work on specifics as we go. All right?”

Steve nodded again.

“Please tell me you understand.”

“I understand.”

Bruce licked his lips. “All right. Good. Now: sex?”

“Yes!” Steve said. He almost laughed. He was surprised that was the first question when they’d all been having sex for months.

“Pain?”

Steve took a breath. That was more what he expected. “Yes.”

“Blindfolds?”

“No.”

Bruce nodded. Steve felt like he should have a clipboard.

“Sensation play?”

“I’m not sure what that is.”

“Exposure to unusual objects or to extremes one doesn’t usually experience in a sexual situation. So it could be a feather, or fur, or ice.”

“I…fur sounds nice?”

“Pleasant sensations. Okay. Check.”

“Toys?”

They’d used toys before. That wasn’t an issue. “Yes.”

“Consent play?”

“Please explain consent play.”

“It’s where we pretend that you’re not agreeing to what’s happening to you and whoever has tied you up is forcing his will on you.”

Steve swallowed. That was exactly what he wanted. “Yes.”

Bruce stared at him for a long beat. “All right. That is probably enough to get started with. There are lots of kinds of pain. For the moment let’s agree that we’ll restrict any pain play to whatever can be done with a body on another body - no outside objects. I know you can take a lot of punishment in a battle scenario, but I want to start slowly. I do have one more question for you before we begin. Are you okay with me doing this? Or would you rather have Tony do it? If you want Tony, I’ll release him and put him in charge and I can either assist him or just spectate for this round. I want you to be as comfortable as possible.”

Steve swallowed, again. “You, please.”

“All right,” he smiled a little. He looked at the other man. “Tony? You okay with playing filthy assistant?”

A moan came from Tony who was holding the sides of the chair in a white-knuckled grip. He nodded.

“Okay. Steve. Please strip down. Your clothes will just get in my way,” said Bruce.

Steve complied with alacrity. He was already hard. He’d be more embarrassed about that if it weren’t perfectly obvious that Tony was, too.

He stood naked, falling into parade rest without thinking about it. Bruce was leaning over Tony's shoulder, stroking his neck with one hand and had the other wrapped around him, resting on his chest next to the arc reactor. Bruce whispered into his ear. Tony looked at him and nodded and his hands rose to squeeze Bruce's arm, then dropped to the sides of the chair, again.

Bruce stood and walked to Steve. He looked him up and down, walking a slow circle around where Steve stood, hands clasped behind himself. Bruce ran a hand over his ass, then down the outside of his left thigh. It wasn’t a tender touch - it felt more like an appraisal.

“Good,” he said, as if he’d just checked off an item on a list. He pushed a chair towards Steve. “Leave your hands as they are and straddle this chair, please.”

Steve did so, sitting facing the back of the chair and leaving his hands clasped together behind his back. Bruce came up behind him and trailed the appraising hand up his back and over his shoulders. “Tony, please get me a six-foot length.”

Tony sprang out of his chair and went into the bag and brought back a length of rope with purple thread wound around the ends. Bruce worked behind Steve’s back, and in short order he was bound at the wrists. 

Bruce was leaning over him. His hand trailed up from the restrained wrists to the back of Steve's neck. "Now I know you can probably get out of that, but you're not going to, are you?" 

Steve couldn't keep himself from twisting in his bonds, testing them a little. He wasn't actually sure he could get out of them unassisted - not without injuring himself. Bruce had tied him pretty well. What he said was, "No. I am not." 

Bruce was standing beside him, now, tracing the shell of his ear and then trailing the square fingers down Steve's neck. "Head up, please." Steve complied and tried not to flinch as the fingers moved down the delicate part of the front of his throat and explored the hollow below his Adam's apple. "We didn't talk about safewords yet. Are you familiar with the concept of a safeword?" 

The fingers were on his throat. It was strange to talk with them there. "Yes."

"Explain it to me, please."

"It's a word where, when you're doing...this...the person who says it can make everything stop."

"That's correct, Steve. Now, you'll come up with your own safeword. Since we didn't discuss it before, for tonight, if you say my first name, everything stops. Please say it now to show you understand."

"Bruce."

"Ah...no...my *first* name, Steve. I thought you paid attention to these things." Bruce sounded disappointed. He was shaking his head, sorrowfully. "We'll have to work on that."

"I'm sorry. I meant Robert." 

"Oh, but Steve. You always say what you mean, don't you?" Bruce stroked a finger up the side of his neck and leaned in, his voice low and intense. "Maybe you did that on purpose?" 

"I didn't! I just..."

"Sshhh..." said Bruce. Steve could feel the heat of his breath against his ear. Then Bruce leaned back. "It's all right. You are going to make it up to me. Stand up, please." Bruce moved and reached for the chair and Steve scrambled up quickly to avoid being dumped unceremoniously onto the floor. Getting up without the use of his hands was harder than sitting down had been. 

Bruce put the chair off to the side. Tony was still standing hopefully on the side of the bed. 

"Uh...Sir? May I ask a question?"

"You just did, Steve. And yes, you may ask more. Do not call me Sir, though."

"What should I call you?"

"If you'd rather not call me by the name you usually use, you can address me as Doctor or Doctor Banner. Do you understand?"

"Yes. Thank you."

"But that wasn't the question you wanted to ask me." Bruce was walking back towards him. Steve was standing at parade rest, again. Bruce ran a hand down his chest and right thigh. He was examining Steve's skin and ignoring his face. Steve thought this must be what it'd be like to be a piece of lab equipment. 

"No, Doctor. I was wondering: Is Tony okay? Does he like that gag?"

"Your concern is charming but unnecessary. No, he doesn't like it; I like it. He'll be fine, though." Bruce reached out a hand to Tony and Tony came over and bumped into it with his head. Bruce scratched him behind the ear as though the man were a kitten. Tony closed his eyes in apparent pleasure.

"How would you know if he wasn't? He can't say his safeword."

"Two ways. First: Jarvis is still on and monitoring. Second: Tony, show him your sign."

Steve watched as Tony held a hand up and spread his fingers out as much as possible, then made a fist and then spread them out again. That made sense. Of course you'd need a gesture or some kind of signal that didn't require the formation of words, at least. 

 

"If he doesn't like it, why does he let you put it on him?" 

"Well, to get a definitive answer, you'll have to ask him later. I suspect sometimes, for a little while, he likes to feel like his destiny is in the hands of someone else who cares about him. Tony. I think you should undress," said Bruce. He sent Tony off to the side of the room with a pat on the bottom that was both fond and proprietary. Tony complied. Steve wasn't sure if he was imagining that Tony was taking his time so he didn't have to look at Steve's face for a while.

He wasn't sure what to say. He was staring at Tony, wondering what this meant to him and wishing he could see his face. Wishing he could go over and give him a hug or some other reassurance that whatever his reasons, it was okay by Steve.

"Steve. Eyes front, please. Do you have enough answers?"

"Yes, Doctor Banner."

"Good. Walk till the front of your legs touch the bed. Good. Spread your legs a little wider. Now lean down till your forehead is touching the sheets."

Steve followed these directions. His face was on the sheets, his bound wrists up in the air. The position was not restful and Steve felt pretty exposed. 

"Steve," said Bruce, a lot more like his usual self. "Remember that you agreed to this, but you can make it stop any time. If you make it stop, neither Tony nor I is going away. It doesn't mean we never do this again. It does mean we talk more about it, but that won't have to be tonight, or it can, as you choose. We love you and we're doing this because you asked. We won't judge you for anything that happens, okay?"

Steve nodded into the sheets.

"Say your safeword one more time, for me to show you understand."

"Robert," said steve, his voice half-muffled. 

"Good. Very good Steve," that note of command was back in his voice. "Now. You said you were sorry for not remembering my name. How sorry are you. Give me a number. Let's say out of twenty." 

"Twenty," he responded promptly.

"I thought you might say that. Count to twenty for me, please. Slowly."

"One." The first blow landed on his ass. Bruce was striking him with fingers closed, with his palm - spanking him, really. The first one hurt, but it was completely bearable. 

"Two." The second blow landed in the exact same place. It stung more. "Three," and the third, as well. Steve hadn't expected that the feeling of being spanked would be somehow...cumulative. "Four." It was really starting to hurt. "Five." Again. Ow. This was nothing like the spankings he got as a kid. He could swear Bruce was putting all his power behind it. At least, all the power in his human form.

Steve suddenly imagined being spanked by the Hulk and shuddered. 

"Six," Bruce had changed where the blows were landing. The first five had been to the left half of his ass. "Seven." Looked like the next five were going to be on the right. "Eight." Yup. "Nine." Just as bad. "Ten." 

"It's all right. You can touch him," Bruce's voice seemed to be coming from far away. It took Steve a minute to realize Bruce was addressing Tony, not him. 

Tony had come to sit on the edge of the broad bed. At Bruce's reassurance, he kneeled in front of where Steve's forehead was touching the sheets. Tony scooted forward till Steve couldn't really see anything but the folded legs hemming his head on either side. The engineer's hands were reaching underneath him and stroking his chest, gently. 

"You can move if Tony moves you, but don't lose count. Be good, Tony," said Bruce.

"Eleven," said Steve. Tony's fingers were seeking out his nipples. He drew Steve's head up his lap, closing his legs underneath his head to give himself more room to work. "Twelve." Bruce was changing it up, now. Steve no longer knew where the blows would fall. He already hurt all over. "Thirteen." 

Tony's fingers, which had been circling Steve's nipples gently, grabbed and twisted. Steve gasped. "Fourteen," he managed to get out. His face was sideways, now, his field of vision full of Tony's hard cock with a drop of wetness building up at its tip. 

"Fifteen." Tony did it again, just as the blow fell, so Steve's gasp could've been a result of Bruce's blow landing. "Sixteen." Steve realized each number was starting to sound like a protestation. "Seventeen," Or a plea. His eyes were leaking involuntary tears at the dual pain that was coming with each number. 

"Eighteen." Bruce struck, again, and Steve realized he'd been wrong about Bruce putting all his strength into the first blows, because they were getting heavier. "Nineteen," Steve's voice was getting hoarse. "Twenty." The final blow fell. 

Steve's head was still in Tony's lap. Tony's fingers released his nipples and stroked down the back of Steve's head over his hair and down his back as far as Tony could reach. The contact felt nice. Steve melted into it. He stopped trying to stay alert for where Bruce was. Bruce was where he needed to be. Steve was where he needed to be, face pressed into Tony's leg feeling the man's calloused fingers tracing his spine as Tony leaned over him. 

Another pair of hands reached from behind, met Tony's on his back and held them. At least, he could feel the pressure of all four arms - one pair on his back, the other balancing on his own bound arms. He could feel no flats of hands. It made Steve feel so calm to be there in the cage of their arms. He sighed, contentedly. Bruce's hands released Tony's, and were gone, again. 

"Tony," Bruce's voice cracked through the pleasant fog Steve found himself in and stroked down his spine the way Tony's fingers had been a moment before. Tony sat up, leaving Steve more free to breathe. Steve started to move, but Bruce put a hand on his back and leaned in to Tony. "Am I right in assuming that you were causing Steve additional pain while I was spanking him?" 

Steve couldn't get a good look at Tony's face from his current position, no matter how he twisted his head in Tony's lap, but he felt the man tense. 

"Tony, you know it'll go worse for you if you lie to me, or delay answering. And Steve will always tell me the truth, Won't you Steve?" Bruce's hand was stroking down Steve's back as if Bruce were the Bond villain and Steve was his fluffy cat. His voice was low and controlled and sounded more like danger than any roar the Hulk had ever given. "Were you hurting Steve?" 

Tony still didn't move or make a noise. Steve might have suspected he was feeling trapped, but if he was it clearly agreed with him. The cock in front of his face was still hard and making miniscule jumps with each of Tony's heartbeats. 

"Steve, did Tony hurt you?" 

Steve wanted to ask what would happen to Tony if he told the truth, but Bruce had this confidence in him that he would tell, and Steve did not want to let him down. "Yes, Doctor."

"What did he do to you?"

"I'm not certain. Something with my nipples. It stung."

"Ahhh...yes. I might have known." Bruce's voice moved towards the head of the bed. "Tony was not supposed to do that, Steve. He didn't ask. And I did tell him to be good. Did you think that was part of being good, Tony?"

Steve tilted his head to look up the best he could. Bruce was running hands through Tony's hair as Tony slowly shook his head.

"Oh, Tony," said Bruce, sounding regretful. "Always acting out for attention." Bruce left Steve's field of vision, and Tony looked down at him and winked, the crinkles at the corner of his eye suggesting he might've grinned if his mouth wasn't otherwise occupied. His eyes were front, again, though, by the time Bruce returned.

Out of the corner of his eye, Steve could see Bruce affixing something to one of Tony's nipples. A little clamp of some kind with a chain dangling from it. Tony let out something like a muffled scream as Bruce tightened it. Bruce slid something onto the chain and then fastened a second one, at the other end of the chain to Tony's other nipple. The chain dangled below the arc reactor with an oblong black object weighting it down in the center. 

"See...Tony likes to push me. He thinks he's smarter than I am, which may or may not be true. I'm not certain there's any way to test that," Bruce was stepping back, again, running fingers down Steve's back, as he stepped to the end of the bed. "But he doesn't consider that I am better at reading people. I didn't used to be, but necessity, Steve, is a bitch." 

Bruce's hands slid slowly across the abused skin of Steve's backside, exploring all of it, slowly. Steve inhaled sharply and bit his lip to stifle a more vocal reaction to the contact with the abused flesh. "I can read people. Tony has never made a practice of that. Plus, I know Tony. No matter how loudly he screams, I'm reasonably certain," There was the wet noise of lube being pumped out of a bottle, and Bruce spread Steve apart, "that getting punished is his favorite part." 

Bruce was working a lubed finger into him. Steve moaned while Bruce kept on talking. "I'm here to give you both what you want. I know what you both want. Two big, powerful men - different sorts of bigness and power, but still. It doesn't take a genius to see what's going on, here." A second finger, joined the first and Steve groaned, again. "You don't need to be some sort of expert in psychoanalysis to understand it." A third slipped in. Steve was trying to move, to get the fingers further inside of him. His need was hot inside him. Bruce put a restraining hand on his ass, and he let out a disappointed noise as all the fingers disappeared. 

He heard the snap of a rubber glove being removed, then Bruce was in front of him, lifting his chin up, looking into his eyes. "You want me to control you. You don't want to admit the things you want. You want me to do them for you, so you don't have to ask for them. That's fine. I'll be the failure of your conscience, for a little while. I like it. I never get to be the failure of my own." 

He was looking at Steve, whose neck was craning uncomfortably to maintain the line of sight. The hand that wasn't on Steve's chin was trailing down from Tony's throat, over the arc reactor and down to the chain. The hand picked up the chain by the weight hanging from it and pulled gently. The clamps didn't budge. Tony let out a noise that was scarcely human. "I know you all think the Hulk is terribly dangerous. And he is. What you don't seem to comprehend is that I am at least as dangerous, Steve. You've put yourself in my power." He dropped the chain so that it thudded onto Tony's skin. Tony was still whimpering. He bent around the chain as though he could somehow protect himself. He hadn't used his hands, they were clutched around his own ankles. 

"You've put yourself in my power and I like this. I love it. I want to do things to you that will hurt you. Part of me wants to rend you so badly that for days after this, or weeks, when you look at me, it'll be with fear in your eyes." Bruce was still looking at his face. Steve looked up to meet his eyes, again. "Yes," said Bruce. "Just like that." Bruce shivered a little. He let Steve go and took off his own shirt, and then his pants. He folded them neatly. He, too, was hard...incredibly so. 

He came back to tip up Steve's chin. "Now, since Tony hurt you, you're going to hurt Tony."

"I don't want to hurt anyone, Doctor." 

"I know," said Bruce. "You can try not to, but I think you still will. Open your mouth, please." Steve looked at him, but did as he was told. Bruce dragged Tony down by the chain and put the oblong object into Steve's mouth. It was made of rubber. He had to stretch to reach it. His legs were still spread wide, with his feet planted on the floor he was leaning across the bed and without his hands, it was difficult to hold himself up. "Bite down." 

Steve did as he was asked, holding the center of Tony's chain in his teeth. Bruce got something else from the bag, and soon was fastening Tony's hands to the headboard so they were stretched behind him at an angle that looked less than comfortable. Then he was moving back down to the foot of the bed. 

"I am going to fuck you, now," said Bruce. "Because I can't wait any longer. If you drop that bit, it will be to say your safeword. Please nod if you understand." 

Steve nodded, yanking slightly on the chain and eliciting muffled noises from Tony. The diabolical simplicity of the set up sank in. Tony couldn't move too far forward because of his hands. He couldn't move too far back because the chain was in Steve's mouth. Steve was already having trouble holding his body up, and now Bruce was going to add a lot of force into this equation. He was right. Steve wasn't going to be able to keep from hurting Tony. That should've bothered him, but he realized he was seeping drops of precum over the bedspread.

Bruce was behind him now, stepping close. The only reason he was at the right height was because of how wide Steve's legs were spread. Bruce spread some more lube and pushed inside him, slowly, then started pounding into him fast and strong. Bruce's hips were slamming against Steve's still-stinging ass. Tony's chain was jingling as the force of each thrust threatened to unbalance Steve. Tony was whimpering above him and Steve was biting into the rubber bit for all he was worth, and was groaning. His arms were starting to hurt from being pulled up behind him for so long. 

Bruce was much quieter than he was during their usual sex. Steve wished he could see Bruce's face. He tried to tilt his chin up to look at Tony. This had the advantage of putting some slack on the chain. Tony was showing the strain. Tears were leaking from his eyes, saliva was foaming out around the edges of the gag and every exhale was somewhere between a whimper and a scream. Tony looked into his eyes and the look was pleading, was...Steve had never seen him look like that. Ever. Tony was being taken out of himself by this. 

Steve's body was rocking with each of Bruce's thrusts, like he was a punching bag moving in reaction to Bruce like Bruce was a fist. His legs were shaking, his abs were straining. Every part of his ass was burning. It didn't take Bruce long, going at full throttle, to come. There was a hoarse shout from somewhere above him and Steve could feel Bruce pulsing inside him. Bruce pulled out and sat heavily on the bed next to Steve's hip. 

"You can drop the bit, now, Steve." 

Steve unclenched his jaw, let go of the rubber bit and collapsed gratefully forward between Tony's knees. 

Tony was still crying and keening softly above him. Bruce stood and moved to him. 

"Have you learned your lesson, Tony?" The man nodded, vigorously. "Very well. This is going to hurt, as you know." Bruce undid one clip, then the other. Tony screamed into the gag as each came off. 

Bruce released his arms, as well and Tony rubbed his wrists in turn and sat back with obvious relief. Bruce leaned in and kissed his neck, as he had done when putting the gag on Tony in the first place. Tony leaned into it and reached a tentative hand up to wrap around the back of Bruce's neck and held him there, for a moment. Bruce put a hand over Tony's, squeezed it and then placed Tony's hand back in the man's own lap.

"Steve, please get up onto the bed." 

Steve scrambled to comply, with Bruce's help, and laid curled up on his side, resting his legs and feeling a little shaky and removed from himself. The position even gave some relief to his arms. He breathed slowly.

"You didn't like hurting Tony, did you?"

"No, Doctor Banner."

"You're a good boy, Steve," said Bruce, with a hint of his usual warmth. "Would you like to make him feel nice, now, to make up for it?" 

From his new vantage point, Steve could more easily look at the other two men. He looked at Tony, who was huddled in on himself, again and then at Bruce, who had one knee on the bed and had one of his hands on the back of Tony's neck. Tony was sitting cross-legged, now and arching into Bruce's touch.

"Yes, Doctor. I would like to."

"Come here, please, then." He touched Tony's legs, but the man was already stretching his legs out over the sheets, splaying them in front of himself. 

Steve did his best to crawl forward without the use of his arms. It wound up as a sort of half-flop, half roll. He came to rest on his knees between Tony's legs. 

"I want you to suck him for me. Can you do that? Tony has his hands, again, and I'm going to let him touch you. Do you understand?"

"Yes," said Steve.

"If you get into trouble, use the hand sign that Tony showed you earlier. I'll be watching. Please begin."

Steve scooted forward on his knees and bent down, taking Tony into his mouth. Tony's hands were on his head in a second, but they were light, reassuring. They were stroking rather than pushing. Steve worked his way down Tony's shaft, letting his tongue undulate on the ridge at the bottom, the way he knew Tony liked. The breathing was getting heavier above him, and Tony moaned. Bruce was doing something at Steve's other end - he was applying more lube and then a largish toy was being pushed into him. Steve groaned at the pressure and the sensation against the already-sensitive area.

The groan seemed to do something to Tony, whose hands were clutching, now, and did start to push. 

Steve was sucking for all he was worth and Tony had his hands locked onto Steve's head, now. The engineer was groaning and whimpering around his gag. Steve kept working his tongue the best he knew how. In short order, Tony was tapping on his head and moaning just before his orgasm overtook him and he came in Steve's mouth. 

Steve did his best to swallow, and then sat up, back on his heels, he felt the toy inside him as he sat back. Tony's eyes were lidded as he looked at him. He looked exhausted, but at least now he looked blissed instead of wrecked. Steve felt something wet on his face and knew he hadn't gotten it all. He thought that must look obscene. The whole thing must look gloriously obscene. 

"Did Steve do well, Tony?" Bruce asked, from the chair in the corner of the room. Tony nodded heavily. "I think so, too." The voice was getting closer and Bruce climbed onto the bed behind him, slid a hand around him and up his chest and then wiped the dribble of cum off his face and slipped the finger into his mouth. Steve sucked it clean as Bruce's fingers slipped to rest on his neck, again. 

"You've done very well, Steve. I'm going to untie you, but we're not finished, understand?"

"Yes, Doctor."

Bruce pulled something and the ropes came loose. Steve was able to pull his hands in front of him, and it was an amazing relief. He rubbed his wrists, as he had seen Tony do, and then rubbed his upper arms, as well, stretching briefly.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, Steve." 

"Doctor?"

"Yes, Steve?"

"Will you ungag Tony, too?"

"If I do, he'll just talk, again. It's not easy to get him to be quiet." 

Steve sat quietly, for a moment. 

"Steve, do we have a problem?"

"I like it when he talks, Doctor." 

Bruce was behind him, again, stroking the side of Steve's neck and up into his hair, the way he had done with Tony. "I do, too," he said, softly. "Just not during my scenes. There are only two ways to get him to shut his mouth. One is to put undeniably fascinating work in front of him.   
The other is to put something in it." Bruce gripped his hair, and pulled his head to the side, leaned down and was kissing, then biting his neck.

Steve sat quietly, breathing heavily as Bruce worked on his skin. Then ventured: "Doctor?" 

"Yes, Steve?" 

"Maybe...well...you said I had been good." He turned to look at Bruce, whose eyebrows were arched. "Maybe we could put something else in his mouth."

Bruce chuckled. "Yes. You haven't come yet, have you? What do you say, Tony? If I let you out, will you be good and suck Steve's cock?"

Tony looked up and nodded, eagerly. Bruce slid off the bed and went around to release Tony's mouth from the gag. Tony put his hand to his jaw and worked it a few times, then Bruce leaned in and kissed him. Tony kissed back, eagerly. Bruce kept a hand on the back of Tony's neck and led him to Steve, first high up, where Tony could kiss him, then pushing him down low, where Tony slid his lips around the head of Steve's cock. Steve let out a moan. He felt like he'd been hard for hours. He had lost all sense of time.

Bruce slid onto the bed behind him again, reaching down to his ass and doing something to the toy, which started vibrating. Steve moaned again, and leaned back as Bruce settled in behind him on the bed. Bruce sunk his face into Steve's neck and sucked and kissed and nipped at Steve's skin as Tony sucked and tongued and worked his cock. 

Bruce leaned up. "Tell me how it is, Steve."

"So good."

"Describe it."

Steve wasn't one for talking in a situation like this, but he tried. "It's...he's warm and wet and OH. He did the thing with his tongue and...god. Teeth! Teeth! Careful! Oh. There, that's...Oh. God. God. Doctor, it's so good. And with the thing you put in me. I don't know. I can't. I feel like I've been waiting so...Oh. God. Tony. I think I'm going to..."

Bruce bit down hard where his neck met his shoulder. He clamped on and didn't let go as Steve started shaking and came thoroughly apart under Tony's tender ministrations. Tony swallowed and kept sucking Steve through every aftershock. Bruce's teeth did not let go and Steve was shrieking, now, shrieking and calling both of their names and saying god knows what incoherent stuff. Bruce pulled the toy out of him while the feelings were still coursing through him. It almost made him scream, he was feeling so sensitive. When it was through, he reached a hand to peel Tony off of him and leaned back into Bruce, who finally let go with his teeth and simply held him. Tony came up to his side and put an arm around him as he shook for awhile. 

It took him a little bit to realize he was crying. 

After some indeterminate amount of time, Bruce shifted and one of his arms was gone, reaching out for Tony, who moved from sandwiching Steve to be held in Bruce's arms, as well. 

Eventually, Bruce spoke like his everyday self. "Tony, are you okay to go get some water for everyone?"

Steve could feel Bruce squeeze Tony before releasing him to his task. 

Tony came back a few minutes later with three bottles of water. Steve accepted his, but just curled his arms around it. Tony opened his and drank most of it right away. 

"Steve drink something. You'll feel better," said Bruce. 

"Bruce...I can't...I didn't...have any idea." Steve was still shaking, a little. 

"It's all right. We're not going anywhere, and however you feel right now is totally fine. It's totally fine," said Bruce. 

"I have no idea how I feel right now." 

"I know exactly how you feel right now," said Tony, quietly. "It's...really difficult to describe, but I understand. Drinking the water really will make you feel better."

"I don't feel bad, exactly...it's..."

"I know," said Tony, who had slipped under Bruce's other arm, again. "I really do."

After a while, he could breathe more normally. He drank some of the water and leaned on Bruce while holding Tony's hand. Bruce was stroking his hair and Tony was murmuring reassurances. 

"It's just...more intimate. Or...differently intimate," said Tony. "You're exposing something different. Not like regular sex."

"Yes," agreed Steve. "I didn't know...some parts of it were like work. Some parts were like what I imagine drugs must be like."

"You're not completely wrong," said Tony, who didn't have to imagine, as Steve knew. "Your brain dumps all kinds of chemicals into you when you're having sex. And all kinds of chemicals into you in stressful situations and painful situations. You get them all, here."

Steve frowned. He didn't like to hear it reduced to that. "It just feels....I don't know. Oh god. You guys can never ever..." he trailed off. This whole evening had left him feeling so exposed it was like being flayed.

"Shh. We're not going anywhere," said Bruce. Tony squeezed his hand. 

"Thank you," said Steve. "It was...I think it was amazing, but I'm going to have to think about it a lot more before I know for sure."

"We get that," said Tony. 

"We do," agreed Bruce. 

They sat that way a while longer, Steve and Tony both leaning on Bruce, who had an arm around each of them. Eventually Bruce said. "Can we move this around so that I can lean against the headboard, guys? Actually, I think I have to step out for a moment, but I'll be right back." 

They released him and Tony scrambled to the head of the bed and held out his arms to Steve who went willingly into them.

"He'll be back in a bit. He gets like this after. We're working on it. I can't always get him to talk to me about it. Anyway, he'll be back as soon as he can put on a brave face," said Tony. "I don't think he would've left at all if we hadn't been here together."

"So you guys have done this a lot before?" said Steve.

"Yeah. I love it, but I can't always talk him into it. I'm switchy. He pretty much only tops. The one time he bottomed for me, he had some kind of post traumatic thing and I just had time to cut him loose before he went green and smashed up a five-star suite."

"Oh, my god." 

"Yeah, we never did that again."

"What about you?" Steve asked. He leaned into Tony, feeling good in the circle of his arms. "Do you ever have issues? I mean. I read your file. I know you were held hostage."

"Only thing I can't do is any kind of water thing oh, and...well, nothing that messes with the arc reactor. That'll send me back, but I was getting tied up for years before Afghanistan. It's not like all my associations with it are bad. And my subconscious doesn't seem to have any trouble distinguishing between being tied by silk ropes to a bed covered with 600 thread-count sheets and what happened to me in that cave," Steve twisted to look at his face. Tony was grinning ruefully. Steve wondered how long it had taken for Tony to be able to talk about it so casually.

Tony put a hand on Steve's head and leaned it against his chest. Steve could feel the thrumming of the arc reactor as he twined his arms around Tony's waist.

"Why did it take you so long to talk about it? I have a reputation for being into everything under the sun. I'd have figured you'd know I wouldn't judge you for it." 

"Honestly, I feel like you're judging me all the time for everything. You seem impatient with me a lot," said Steve.

"Oh, god, Cap, I mean...for a smart guy sometimes you are kind of dumb. It just drives me crazy when I know you can get something but you don't seem to be trying." 

Steve closed his eyes and shook his head. He was always trying. He wasn't sure whether to be pleased at being over-estimated or annoyed that Tony still couldn't read him. But Bruce was right, reading people wasn't Tony's forte. "Anyway, you buck your reputation all the time. Even SHIELD had you wrong. And I had you dead wrong when I met you. Dead wrong. How did I know this wasn't another thing that had been exaggerated or just lied about?"

"Anyway," Steve added, quietly. "I judged myself. This...I guess people probably did it in the thirties, too, but I didn't know anyone who did." 

"Bet you did," said Tony. 

Steve thought back. "Maybe," he admitted. 

"Well, anything I can do to help you stop judging yourself, just let me know. We can talk about it more, whenever and I'll try to answer your questions about why or...well, anything."

Steve knew he was referring to the things he had asked Bruce about why Tony wanted this. "Thank you."

"We could do lunch tomorrow." 

"Without Bruce?" 

"Bruce will understand." 

"I'll understand what?" Bruce asked. He re-entered the room. He was half-dressed, again, wearing loose linen drawstring pants. 

Tony held out an arm to him and Steve did too, and Bruce clambered onto the bed, leaning his head back where their shoulders met.

"We're never leaving," said Tony. "We're just going to stay in here forever. You'll have to be the breadwinner Doctor. If we ever go out again, it'll be because you're parading us on leashes."

Bruce snorted. "You'd be bored in roughly half an hour."

"Not now that Steve is in on this, too. He and I have so much ground to cover."

Steve wasn't sure what to say. This felt like part of the two scientists dynamic he'd always been uncertain he had a place in. He just put a hand on Bruce's shoulder and ran it down his arm, now that he was free to do so, again. 

"Starting at lunch, tomorrow," Tony added.

"Don't do anything to shock the restaurant staff. I don't care how well you tip. It wouldn't be enough for that," said Bruce.

"Spoilsport. I won't."

Bruce put a hand on Steve's, where it was rubbing his shoulder. "Steve wouldn't let you, anyway. He has a strong sense of etiquette." Bruce turned to Steve and smiled.

Steve smiled back. Tony rolled his eyes. 

"Oh, good," said Tony. "Just what I wanted. An older brother to live up to."

"Well, its' debateable whether he's..." Bruce was saying. 

Steve cut in. "You'd do that to your brother, Tony? Things have changed even more than I thought."

Bruce laughed and Tony rolled his eyes again. Steve relaxed and threaded his fingers through Bruce's. 

There it was. The same lesson he kept having to learn. He thought he wasn't a part of them that he was an interruption, a distraction, but they were happy to let him in. Willing. Eager. Waiting for him to say it's what he wanted. 

"I'm exhausted," Steve added. "Can we maybe actually...rest, at least?"

"Steve gets the middle, tonight," said Bruce. 

"No, actually, I think you should have it," Steve countered, softly, thinking of Bruce removing himself from the room, and wondering what he had put himself through before he came back. 

Tony looked back and forth between them and his eyes came to rest on Bruce. "I'm with Steve."

Bruce shook his head and was opening his mouth to protest.

"Doctor, please," said Steve, looking earnestly at him. He held Bruce's eyes for a long moment. The other man finally nodded. 

There was a shuffle as they rearranged beneath the covers and Steve and Tony wound up leaning on Bruce, again.

"I feel like you should be reading to us," said Tony to Bruce. 

"Well, I could, if you hand me my tablet," he said. "What would you like me to read?"

"Anything," said Steve, and yawned.

Steve drifted off to the dulcet tones of Bruce reading an incomprehensible paper on something about Biology. Next time he would have to be more specific.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to ElvenSorceress, Eversingingleaves, and tumblr user lokis-nonexistent-shampoo for helping me whip this story into shape.


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